On 31st March 2017, CentOS 5 reaches end of life (EOL).
We recommend that you update to CentOS 7.

Over time technology and security evolves, new bugs are fixed and new threats prevented, so in order to maintain a secure infrastructure it is important to keep all software and systems up to date.

Operating systems are key to security, providing the libraries and technologies behind NGINX, Apache and anything else running your application. Old operating systems don’t support the latest technologies which new releases of software depend on, leading to compatibility issues.

Leaving old CentOS 5 systems past March 2017 leaves you at risk to:

Security vulnerabilities of the system in question

Making your network more vulnerable as a whole

Software incompatibility

Compliance issues (PCI)

Poor performance and reliability

CentOS End of life dates:

CentOS 5 : 31st March 2017

CentOS 6 : 30th November 2020

CentOS 7: 30th June 2024

Faster:

Just picking up your files and moving them from CentOS 5 to CentOS 7 will speed up your site due to the newer software.